The Teacher
by PadawanObiWan
Summary: Yoda embarks on a mysterious mission, Qui-Gon Jinn takes over his class. This story also tells you why Dooku and Mace Windua are so POd at eachother in Attack of the Clones


TITLE: The Teacher  
AUTHOR: PadawanObiWan  
CATEGORY: General (a little drama and a little action)  
RATING: G  
SUMMARY: Yoda embarks on a mysterious and personal mission.  
DISCLAIMER: STAR WARS and all associated characters, logos and other elements are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. The author of this story makes no profit whatsoever. Additional material are copyright of their respective owners.  
  
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Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn stepped into the Spartan chambers of Senior Jedi Council Member Master Yoda. The small Jedi Master sat on a cushion, folding his hands and bowing his head. Qui-Gon noted how exhausted he looked, and grave. Qui-Gon was beginning to wonder what this meeting was about. Nearly everyone in the temple revered the old Jedi Master; and, although he didn't always obey him, Qui-Gon was no exception. Yoda had instructed Qui-Gon's classes before Qui-Gon was a Padawan; even afterwards Yoda's knowledge was passed on to Qui-Gon through Dooku, Qui-Gon's former master, Yoda's former Padawan, so Qui-Gon knew the master well. Well enough to know that Yoda didn't get as upset as he appeared now for nothing.  
  
Yoda sat with his eyes closed, and Qui-Gon didn't want to disturb him. Beside him, his Padawan Xanatos shifted impatiently. Yoda finally looked up, meeting Qui-Gon's eyes.  
  
"You asked to see me?" Qui-Gon asked.  
  
"Yes," Yoda replied, "a mission I must depart on. Wondering I am, if take over my duties you can."  
  
Qui-Gon was about to object, as far as he was concerned Yoda was single-handedly responsible for running the Jedi Order. Yoda was still sorrowful but managed to smile and laugh, and suddenly Qui-Gon realized what kind of expression must have been on his own face.  
  
"Not all my duties, of course," he put in quickly, "just my training sessions, will you handle."  
  
Qui-Gon was relieved for a moment, but than started to wonder again. Yoda hadn't been outside of the Jedi Temple since his last Padawan had graduated to knighthood. After that he retired from training Padawans, instead he found fulfillment in his position on the Jedi Council and his teaching of the younger students at the temple. Nobody asked Yoda to leave on missions, not any Jedi, senators or even the Supreme Chancellor. Qui-Gon wondered what would make Yoda suddenly leave his classes and head off on a mission. You are not to ask, you are to do. The lesson was repeatedly drilled into the young Padawans at the temple. Whatever Yoda's mission was it was none of Qui-Gon's business.  
  
"I would be honored," Qui-Gon said.  
  
"But, Master…"  
  
Qui-Gon held up his hand at his apprentice, and Xanatos abruptly shut up. So far his Padawan had been patient, something they had been practicing again and again for months. Qui-Gon let out a sigh; Xanatos still had a long way to go before knighthood.  
  
"I thank you," Yoda said slowly. "Your class schedule, Soon Bayts will give you." A young Knight walked in, handed Qui-Gon a datapad. Qui-Gon thanked him and skimmed through the data readout.  
  
"Master, there's a class scheduled here at 14:05," Qui-Gon said, glancing at his chrono his fears were affirmed, "that's in three minutes."  
  
Again, Yoda smiled slightly. "Yes, apologize, I do."  
  
Qui-Gon bowed as quickly as possible and then sprinted to the lift, Xanatos behind him. Yoda raised his hand, his cane flew to him. He got up with a sad sigh, and headed to the hangar.  
  
  
Qui-Gon hurried down to the training level, trying hard not to bump into other Jedi and most of the time succeeding. His respect for Master Yoda diminishing quickly as he ran; he found himself wondering again, wondering if this was one Master Yoda's practical jokes. But Yoda didn't look like he was in a joking mood, Qui-Gon had no one to blame, so he kept on running.  
  
He finally made his way to the room where his class was to be held. He ran through the door to see about a dozen or so young children sitting watching him, all about 4 or 5 years old, with occasional exceptions here and there. It was then that he ran into the blasted droid.  
  
"Oh dear, I'm doomed," the droid said in a monotone electronic voice.  
  
Had it been another Jedi, Qui-Gon would have sensed it, but droids are not part of the Force, and Qui-Gon had been distracted. Qui-Gon fell over, hitting the droid hard against the ground. He heard children's giggles and Xanatos' groan of embarrassment. He picked himself off of the ground and cursed himself and the droid mentally. He had to stop letting his mind wander. The droid escaped relatively unharmed, but Qui-Gon was very sore in the back area. The children quit laughing once he was recovered and Qui-Gon sat on a stool in front of them. Xanatos stood in the doorway, too afraid, or too embarrassed to enter.  
  
"Alright," he said to the children, "what class is this?"  
  
"This is history class, Master Qui-Gon Jinn," one of the students said.  
  
"History class," he repeated. Obviously the children had been informed about Master Yoda's absence before he had. Qui-Gon looked over at the large stationary data pad, found the correct lesson and began telling the Jedi younglings a story.  
  
  
Jedi Master Adi Gallia approached Master Yoda in the hangar.  
  
"Tell me, where now is our lost Padawan?" Master Yoda asked.  
  
"He came back here a couple of hours ago. Gone back to his home planet, he says," Master Gallia explained. "The ships fuelled up and ready to go, the coordinates are set in the nav computer."  
  
Yoda nodded grimly, "Very good, Master Gallia. Depart immediately, I shall. May the Force be with you."  
  
Yoda hoped to leave it at that, but he knew Master Gallia all too well. She was never confused for too long.  
  
"You mean for me to not accompany you." She said, not as a question.  
  
Yoda was on the ramp of the ship, she could see the back of his head nod.  
  
"Do you request another pilot?" She asked, hurt in her voice. "I could have Master Tiin report down."  
  
"Not about you this is. Go alone, I must."  
  
"Then if the Force wills it," she said, "I would trust my life with your judgment, she added.  
  
"May the Force be with you," Yoda repeated.  
  
"And also with you," Adi replied.  
  
Yoda boarded the ship and soon afterwards lifted off. Adi watched him leave, wishing she had gone with him, and hoping he would find the Padawan Mace Windu.  
  
  
"Toor was suddenly lost on the strange planet, and worse yet the fire from the shuttle's crash had attracted wild gundarks. But Toor was a master at Jedi battle meditation - he envisioned the gundarks attacking one another - and they soon did, giving him time to escape."  
  
Xanatos exaggerated a huge yawn; Qui-Gon sent a glare in his direction and continued with his story of Toor Ghalhaunt and the signing of the Treaty of Tyyer.  
  
"Well, Toor soon found himself out of the boiling pot and into the fryer-"  
  
"That's fire, Master," Xanatos said impatiently.  
  
"Thank you, Xanatos," Qui-Gon said sarcastically.  
  
"A large mailoc swooped down towards Toor-"  
  
"It was a tyladon , Master;" Xanatos interrupted again, "mailocs aren't native to Tyvo IV."  
  
"Xanatos, if you please…" Frustrated, Qui-Gon continued his story, "A large winged beast swooped down towards Toor and carried him off to her nest…"  
  
Qui-Gon looked over at Xanatos, just as he suspected, the youth was about to open his mouth.  
  
Qui-Gon smiled at the children, "Maybe Xanatos would like to tell you the rest of the story."  
  
Qui-Gon got up and beckoned to Xanatos to sit at the stool. Xanatos reluctantly obeyed his master. He launched into a telling of Toor's adventures in the cliffs of Tyvo IV. Qui-Gon stepped out of the learning room and sealed the door. He stood gazing at the Jedi going about their business, he noticed one Jedi walking briskly towards him. He smiled as he recognized the familiar figure and embraced her in a hug as she approached.  
  
"Master Gallia," He said smiling.  
  
"Master Jinn," she returned, "it's been far too long."  
  
Her face turned serious. "Look, Qui-Gon, I'm worried about Master Yoda, him going on this mission and everything, and refusing a pilot."  
  
"Ah, yes," Qui-Gon said, "the mysterious mission. Do you know anything about it?"  
  
Adi frowned, "You mean you haven't heard about Dooku?"  
  
Qui-Gon turned serious, too, "What happened to Master Dooku?"  
  
"It's not something that happened to him," she said, "It's something he did."  
  
"What did Master Dooku do?"  
  
  
Yoda ceased his meditation just before the computer's beep advised him that the ship was coming out of lightspeed. Yoda cut in the sublight engines, he was as good a pilot as he was a lightsaber fighter, but he preferred to keep those two talents in the closet. The green and blue world below him became larger as he approached it. Forty eight percent of the planet was farm land and forty eight percent of it water, the other four percent was a craggy wasteland in the middle. Other than the wastes, it was a nice small planet with close-knit families working together. It was here that the Padawan Mace Windu was from and here that Yoda hoped to find him. Yoda had been watching the young Padawan as he advanced close to knighthood. He still had a good couple of years of training left before completing the trials, but he was one of the most skilled Padawans in the Order. And to face what he had in that way…  
  
With a sigh Yoda entered the atmosphere of the planet, only to find the ship immediately lose all power. The engines died down, the lights switched off and the ship began its freefall. Yoda didn't need an explanation why, he just needed to respond. He closed his eyes and clutched his cane, feeling the Force surround him, the trees below, the rocks, the land, the water, the ship, connecting all things. The ship slowed its descent and floated like a feather down into the wastelands…  
  
  
Xanatos sat amused watching the young students spar with the training lightsabers clumsily. He got up as he spotted a child alone in a corner. He walked over to the young boy who looked quite upset. Apparently there were an odd number of children in the class today.  
  
"Hey kid," he said. The child looked up. "Where's your partner?"  
  
"Garen's usually, my partner," the boy said, "but he's sick today."  
  
"Well, would you like to spar with me?"  
  
The child smiled, "Really?"  
  
"Sure," Xanatos said, activating his lightsaber, shortening the blade and making sure to lower the power. The boy activated his own training saber.  
  
Xanatos had trouble trying to fight a child, making sure not to pull any of the intense moves he used when fighting other Padawans or knights, but still giving the boy a challenge.  
  
"You're quite good," Xanatos said, "You'll make a fine Padawan someday."  
  
The boy smiled. Jedi were taught that too much pride lead to the dark side and taught excess humbleness, but Xanatos disagreed. He wished someone would have complimented him when he was younger; he'd had to search hard to build up the pride he had now, not being encouraged enough in Temple classes. The door opened and Xanatos turned, surprised to see Master Adi Gallia walk in instead of his own master.  
  
Xanatos turned to the boy, "Excuse me a minute, er, -"  
  
"Obi-Wan," the boy supplied for him.  
  
"Obi-Wan," he repeated, "Excuse me."  
  
He walked over to Master Gallia and bowed.  
  
"Where's Master Qui-Gon?" He asked.  
  
"He's gone to talk with Master Dooku," Adi said.  
  
"Ah," Xanatos replied. Xanatos knew Dooku well; Dooku had trained Qui-Gon as a Padawan. Xanatos thought Dooku to be the most supreme Jedi Master at the Temple, surpassing even Master Yoda in lightsaber skill as well as knowledge of the Force. Xanatos was in the minority in his opinion, however.  
  
"He asked me to watch the class for him," Adi replied sounding a bit uneasy.  
  
Xanatos nodded, he'd always found it hard to talk to beautiful Jedi Master. She'd been around Qui-Gon's quarters often, and Xanatos had plenty of chances to get to know her, but there was just something about her he didn't like.  
  
"I'm going to go to the 'fresher," he lied.  
  
Adi sensed the lie but didn't stop him. "Alright," she said.  
  
Xanatos left the training room and headed for Dooku's quarters.  
  
  
Yoda's lightsaber swung through the air, slicing off the stinger of the large insect. As soon as he had landed Yoda had been attacked by mailocs. The most likely reason is that he had landed right in their nest. Yoda somersaulted off of one mailoc and clipped the wings off another, landing on a branch above. Another one of the insects met its fate at Yoda's lightsaber. Yoda looked for an escape route as the mailocs regrouped. He saw it below - a small slope off of the cliff. It would be steep, but even a Jedi Master couldn't hold off a whole nest of mailocs. Yoda climbed down the tree and ran for the slope. He had almost reached it when the queen mailoc flapped her way up from the cliff.  
  
Behind him thirty mailocs sailed towards. He had one option left.  
  
He deactivated his lightsaber and jumped off the cliff, stretching out his arms, he soared towards the river, using the Force to guide himself. The whole nest of mailocs swooped down after him.  
  
He closed his eyes, blocking out the pain as the mailocs swung their twin scorpion tails into his back. Soon it would be over.  
  
  
Xanatos rushed to the lift, hoping to catch up to his master. Once Qui-Gon found out that Dooku had thrown out his new Padawan… He reached Dooku's floor and ran to the Master's quarters. He flung open the door…  
  
…Only to find Dooku and Qui-Gon sitting at a table, talking calmly.  
  
"Padawan," Qui-Gon said in surprise.  
  
"Master I,-" he started.  
  
Dooku smiled, "It's alright, Qui-Gon, it's obvious your Padawan here didn't know how you'd take the news."  
  
He turned to Xanatos, "Everything's alright, dear boy, have a seat."  
  
The wise Jedi Master sighed, "It's the hardest thing," he said to Qui-Gon, "When a Padawan leaves his master."  
  
Qui-Gon nodded.  
  
So that's what happened, Xanatos thought. He had had doubts of what he'd heard - that Dooku had rejected his apprentice, told him he was too weak to be a Jedi, it didn't sound like the Dooku he knew at all.  
  
"That feeling of guilt," Dooku continued.  
  
"I wish I knew what it was that I did. What it was that I said," Dooku said solemnly. "Pray you never know experience feeling, Qui-Gon Jinn."  
  
"He won't," Xanatos said, "I'll never leave you Master."  
  
Dooku smiled, "No boy, I don't believe you will."  
  
"And one day, I'll have a Padawan of my own," Xanatos said, "I'll be a great Jedi Master, just like you, Dooku."  
  
"Yes," Dooku smiled, "Just like me."  
  
  
Yoda awoke. He was in a small wooden building with three walls. A stable, he realized. Six large reptilian beasts were tied to posts nearby. He was lying on bail of hay, under comfortable blankets. Above him, was Mace Windu.  
  
"Here you go Master," the young man said, handing Yoda a container with liquid in it.  
  
"Padawan Windu, happy to see you I am."  
  
"I'm not a Padawan, Master Yoda," Mace said, "I'm no longer a Jedi. I'm too weak."  
  
Yoda sighed; Dooku had done much damage, "Not weak are you."  
  
"You know what Master Dooku said," Mace told Yoda, "And he's right."  
  
"Incorrect, Master Dooku was," Yoda said, "in speech… and in actions as well."  
  
Mace shook his head, "I don't think so."  
  
The young man got up and walked over to one of the large beasts.  
  
"Know him well I do, my own Padawan he was."  
  
Mace turned, but didn't speak.  
  
"Strong in the Force are you. A long time have I watched. Continue to grow your talents you must. A strong knight you shall become."  
  
Mace sighed. Yoda saw the change in him, Mace Windu wanted to be a Jedi, more than anything.  
  
"I can't go back," he said instead, "Even if I wanted to."  
  
"Dooku won't take me back."  
  
Yoda and Mace locked gazes.  
  
"Than train you myself, I will."  
  
Mace held his gaze longer, than he smiled.  
  
"I would be honored."  
  
  
Three years passed, and Master Yoda stood with Mace Windu at his knighting ceremony. Afterwards the two walked alone through the Temple corridors.  
  
"I don't think he'll ever respect me," Mace said, indicating his first Master Dooku.  
  
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Yoda said, "Respect, however, is not what a Jedi seeks."  
  
"I know, Master," Mace said.  
  
"But, something a Jedi earns. And respect, soon earn it you shall."  
  
"Master…?"  
  
"Requested it I did. Voted, the Council has…."  
  
"What is it, Master?"  
  
"A seat is opened on the Jedi Council, if you desire it, earned it you have."  
  
"I would be honored."  
  
END 


End file.
